2014-04-27 message

Last night at Vespers we chanted, “O good unbelief of Thomas, which has led the hearts of the faithful to knowledge!” It is clear from the way the Church treats St. Thomas and the way she understands his doubt that not all doubt is the same. There is doubt that leads to perdition and doubt that leads to salvation. The doubt that leads to perdition separates and isolates; it often relies heavily on the personal experience of the person doubting.

The doubt that leads to salvation is a doubt of searching, a doubt of thirst. St. Thomas, while saying that he did not believe in the Resurrection, remained with the other apostles. He did not run away saying that because he had not personally experience the risen Christ, the other apostles must be wrong. However, he stated his personal thirst for the God: for him, the mere account of others having seen the risen Lord is not enough. He desired to see Christ in person, to experience that which the other disciples have experienced. So he remained with the other ten, waited, and was rewarded for that faith and patience by the personal invitation of the Lord to come and convince himself of the reality of the Resurrection. To this, his reaction was one of awe-struck confession: “My Lord and my God!”

May we, too, wait patiently for the Lord, may we thirst for Him as St. Thomas did, and may God grant us to encounter Him as he did.